Former Mothercare store in Sheffield to become theatre venue

After the Migration Matters festival next week the venue will relocate to the large empty unit next to Office Outlet, formerly Staples, on Eyre Street, opening up again in autumn.

Theatre Delicatessen has transformed the empty Woolworths store on The Moor, but the building is being readied for the Phase 3 redevelopment of The Moor, due to be completed in 2019 with an-as-yet-unannounced retail chain destined to move in.

“It was never going to be a permanent building for us and The Moor has been transformed while we’ve been here,” said Sarah Sharp, Theatre Delicatessen’s producer in Sheffield. “When we signed it was supposed to be for nine months and we’re still here two-and-a-half years later."

The Mothercare shop provides a big ground floor space and also a studio theatre but they would prefer something bigger to occupy longer-term. The former Yorkshire Bank on Castlegate is one possibility, said Sarah - but the bank has a lease for part of the building until 2022, and tracking down the landlord for the remainder is proving difficult.

The group an offshoot of the organisation which started in London in 2007, working with developers to bring temporary life to vacant buildings.